Wire brush sharpening device



Dec. 19%

C. E. KRUSE ETAL WIRE BRUSH SHARPENING DEVICE Filed April 22, 1964 INVENTORS CLARENCE E.KRUSE GLENN F. RICHMOND ATTONEY United States Patent 3,289,359 WIRE BRUSH SHARPENING DEVICE Clarence E. Kruse and Glenn F. Richmond, Cleveland, Ohio, assignors to Clevite Corporation, a corporation of Ohio Filed Apr. 22, 1964, Ser. No. 361,720 6 Claims. (Cl. 51--241) This invention pertains to apparatus for wire brushing devices and for periodically sharpening the wire brush after it becomes dull.

In many manufacturing processes wire brushing of parts or devices is required, and periodically the wire brush has to be sharpened to maintain its effectiveness.

In the past the dull wire brushes were removed from the brushing machine and were sent back to the manufacturer who gave it a haircut and. returned it to the user. This process shut the production machine for periods up to one-half hour while the brush and its guards were removed and a new or recently sharpened brush was installed and the machine re-assembled. Further, the brush had to be shipped to the manufacturer with consequent paper work, and when it was returned more paper work was required, and eventually the not insignificant bill for the sharpening service was paid. The sharpening process removed about A from the bristles, resulting in a rather short life for the brush. All in all, wire brushing on a production line was a fairly expensive process. A further disadvantage of the prior art wire brushing technique was that often the brushes became loaded with oil and metal chips even before they became dull, and often they had to be removed for cleaning before they became dull. These several disadvantages combined to the point that wire brushing was not used on bearing production lines, in spite of the demonstrable advantages of wire brushing the back surfaces of sleeve bearings.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a wire brushing machine wherein the wire brush can be sharpened without removing it from the machine; and in a very short time so that very little machine production time is lost; and by an inexpensive process which removes only about the length of the bristles compared to the previous haircut method. Thus the brushes last up to ten times as long as previously, and the sharpening job is done in much less time than it previously took to replace brushes on the machine. Additionally, the previous dollar cost to sharpen the brush is replaced with the relatively insignificant cost of some abrasive cloth.

Another object of the invention is to sharpen a wire brush so that its brushing ability is even better than that of a new brush.

For a better understanding of the present invention, together with other and further objects thereof, reference is had to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, and its scope will be pointed out in the appended claims.

With reference to the drawing there is shown in FIG- URE 1 a perspective view of the wire brushing device which also can sharpen the brush. Parts are broken away to more clearly show the brush.

FIGURE 2 is a side view of a portion of the device shown in FIGURE 1.

The brushing equipment in FIGURES 1 and 2 is particularly designed to brush the back or convex surface of sleeve bearings of the type used in automobiles, but it may be used on other devices, and the apparatus for sharpening the bristles of the brush may be applied to a wide variety of wire wheel type brushing machines, and it may also be used to advantage to sharpen new wire brushes to improve their brushing ability.

Reference characters lll represents the base of a rotary or wheel type wire brushing machine on which is mounted a wire brush 11 driven by motor 12 through a drive belt (not shown) to shaft 15 on which the brush is replaceably mounted. A pipe 18 carries fluid which cools and flushes the brush and the surface of the device being brushed, and an air pipe 19 blows air down onto the surface being brushed to control spatter of fluid and possible metal chips. Preferably the fluid may be a soap or detergent solution so that it keeps the wire brush clean of oil and metal chips.

The machine shown is particularly designed to wire brush the back or convex surface of automotive sleeve bearings, one of which is identified by reference character 20. A rotating mandrel 21 is mounted by bearings 22 on a base plate 9 which is bolted to the base 10 by bolts 8. The mandrel 21 is driven by motor 7 in the direction shown by the arrow to feed successive bearings 20 between the rotating mandrel 21 and the brush 11 which is rotating in a counterclockwise direction (as seen from the right hand end in FIGURE 1), also tending to feed the bearings down between the mandrel and the brush. Thus, both the rotating mandrel and the rotating brush move the bearing down between themselves while the brush is brushing the convex back face of the bearing. The mandrel rotates at a slower rate than the brush and the bearing tends to cling to the mandrel. Thus it is the rate of rotation of the mandrel which determines the length of time the bearing is brushed. After brushing, the bearing drops into a tank of flushing fluid, and then by an endless conveyor system it is moved to the next operating station, not shown. To adjust the severity of the brushing operation the bolts 8 may be loosened, and by means of the control wheel 6 which rotates sprocket 5 and drives chain 4, the plate 9 may be moved in relation to the base 10. When the proper spacing between mandrel and brush is obtained bolts 8 are tightened. Motor 7 is mounted on a portion of the plate 9 so that it moves with the mandrel 21. Details of the plate adjusting mechanism are not shown since they do not form part of the invention.

After a period of operating time the sharp edges of the individual bristles which strike the steel bearing 20 become worn and dull, and they lose a great deal of their effectiveness. At this point the motors 7 and 12 are stopped by means of push buttons 23 and 24 and a length of strong waterproof abrasive cloth 25 is pulled up around the brush 11 and is clamped by means of the parallel clamping bars 26 and the threaded screw 27 which screws into the threaded hole 29 in the frame 28, thus tightly holding the loose end of the abrasive cloth in place. Mounted on the base 10 of the machine is a large supply roll 30 of the abrasive cloth, and a ratchet device 31 is provided to tighten the cloth. against the brush 11. Additionally, a clamping device 32 also is provided to hold the supply end of the abrasive cloth. When the cloth is securely held the motor 12 is started by push button 24 in the reverse direction from its brushing direction. It has been found that removal of only about .015 to .025 from the bristles of the brush by the abrasive cloth puts the brush into a condition which is superior to a new brush or to one which has had a revitalizing haircut. Experimental work has shown that when the brush is relatively new the abrasive cloth should extend around about 90 of the brush, and as the brush wears down due to wear and repeated sharpening the abrasive cloth should extend around at least about of the brush to be efficient.

A very few minutes of reverse direction brushing against the abrasive cloth is all that is needed to recondition the brush. During the sharpening operation meter 33 measures the amperage drawn by the motor 12 as it drives the brush 11 in the reverse direction. The load on the motor 12 imposed by the abrasive cloth is thus indicated, and if the load is insufficient it is increased by loosening clamp 32 and tightening up on the ratchet 31 and thereafter reclamping the clamp 32. A few minutes of severe reverse operation of the brush against the abrasive cloth restores the eifectiveness of the brush. Thereafter the motor is stopped, and the used portion of the abrasive cloth 25 is either cut off and thrown away, or it may be wound up out of the way on a roll (not shown). The motor 12 is then started in its counterclockwise direction and production of brushed bearings continues with only a few minutes of interruption in the production time.

While the aforedescribed device is designed to sharpen wire brushes which are mounted on production equipment, the invention extends to the sharpening of new wire brushes. It has been found that the brushing ability of new brushes is enhanced by a short period of sharpening against a length of abrasive cloth.

Experience on production equipment has shown that a 12" diameter wire brush rotating at about 1500 rpm. can be sharpened in about 1.5 minutes, and can be sharpened in about two minutes if it is rotating at about 1000 rpm. This sharpening is accomplished by removing about as much bristle material as is done by a haircut, and the sharpening is about 90% effective. By this is meant that about 1.5 minutes of reverse rotation sharpens the brush about 90%. To completely sharpen the brush would require twice or three times the length of time, and is unnecessary in the production use of the Wire brush.

While there have been described what are at present considered to be the preferred embodiments of this invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the invention, and it is, therefore, aimed in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for sharpening a wire brush, comprising,

in combination, a rotary wire brush, abrasive cloth, means securing said abrasive cloth tightly against the bristles of said brush, and means for rotating said brush while it is tightly against said abrasive cloth to sharpen the ends of the bristles of said brush.

2. The invention as set forth in claim 1, further characterized by said means securing said abrasive cloth, holding said cloth around said brush throughout an arc of about to degrees.

3. Apparatus for wire brushing devices and for sharpening the wire brush comprising, a rotary wire brush, means driving said wire brush in a forward direction while brushing said devices until the bristles of said brush become dull, abrasive cloth, means securing said abrasive cloth tightly against the bristles of said brush, and means for driving said brush in the reverse direction with its bristles engaging said abrasive cloth to sharpen the bristles.

4. The apparatus as set forth in claim 3, further characterized by means for mounting a roll of said abrasive cloth on said apparatus, and means for adjusting the tightness of a length of said abrasive cloth against said brush.

5. The apparatus as set forth in claim 4, further characterized by said abrasive cloth extending about 90 around said wire brush when said wire brush is new, and extending around said wire brush about 70 when said wire brush is worn.

6. Apparatus as set forth in claim 5, further characterized by electric motor means for driving said brush in the reverse direction during sharpening, and means for measuring the electric amperage drawn by said motor during sharpening.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,230,764 2/1941 Schneider 5l250 ROBERT C. RIORDON, Primary Examiner.

L. S. SELMAN, Assistant Examiner. 

1. APPARATUS FOR SHARPENING A WIRE BRUSH, COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, A ROTARY WIRE BRUSH, ABRASIVE CLOTH, MEANS, SECURING SAID ABRASIVE CLOTH TIGHTLY AGAINST THE BRISTLES OF SAID BRUSH, AND MEANS FOR ROTATING SAID BRUSH WHILE IT 